indeed, right? wayne lapierre of the national rifle association. you ever wonder why everything he says seems increasingly inflammatory? it's not that he is dumb. it's not that he doesn't know what is going to upset you when you listen to a speech or a sound bite from him. the national rifle association exists to bug you. the national rifle association exists to make you think of him, to make you pay attention to him and to the nra instead of to the industry that pays the nra to be their heat shield. nobody knows the names of the ceos of the manufacturing companies in this country that make guns. nobody knows who runs the various gun companies and the accessories companies who makes those extended magazines anyway. nobody knows who those guys are. but everybody knows who wayne lapierre is. he wants you to hate him. that's his job. and i think that wayne lapierre and the nra are not even in this to win elections, which is why they stay in business despite a winning record of 1%. wayne lapierre exist to make you think of anything other than the makers of guns when you feel outraged by gun

possibly delaying chuck hagel's nomination. and also wayne lapierre. this is very important. because if you look at the profiles of all the people that committed these mass murders in newtown and aurora and across -- virginia tech, they are all hispanic drug gang leaders. and that's exactly what wayne lapierre said in an op-ed that americans need to buy guns because those latin americans are coming to america, and they're going to kill you people. this is who a lot of republicans in congress are thinking about falling off -- don't do it. don't hurt our party anymore. let wayne lapierre go wherever he wants to go. he's going to destroy the party. we're going to talk about the crazy op-ed has horrible for our party's image, horrible for the conservative movement's image, goes against everything ronald reagan stood for. we'll talk about that in a minute. first, breaking news. this is bizarre. the feel-good story of the olympic games involved in possibly murder. >> this was a total jaw-dropper this morning. oscar pistorius, for those people who don't know, is a south african runner, a doubl

analysts. joan, do you think wayne lapierre has lost it? he got a grilling on fox yesterday. let's listen to how he reacted. >> the president's kids are safe and we're all thankful for it. the point of that ad -- >> they also face a threat that most children do not face. >> tell that to the people in newtown. >> do you really think that the president's children are the same kind of target as every school child in america? that's ridiculous and you know it, sir. you talk -- one of the points of that ad that i want to ask you about is you made it a class argument, the rich, the elite. they have bodyguards. they have security. >> sure. and mayor bloomberg has it. mayor bloomberg has it. >> i'll tell you somebody else who has security, you do. >> sometimes, yeah -- >> on capitol hill you had security. today you have security. >> yeah, you talk about hypocrisy right out in the open, we've had all kinds of threats coming. >> you know, trying to outline those sentences, there's a lot of grunts going on there. i don't think there's a lot of words or verbs in there. good for chris. he caught him,

pointed out the rank hypocrisy of men like the nra's wayne lapierre who at one time was a vocal supporter of background checks. >> we think it's reasonable to provide mandatory, instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show, no loopholes anywhere for anyone. >> the nra's most public response to this onslaught of factual statements was on sunday when it trotted out wayne lapierre to yet again repeat the same inaccurate and ill-informed statements to which the president was just referring. >> turn this universal check on the law-abiding into a universal registry of law-abiding people. >> there's no indication -- i understand you're saying that's the threat, but there's nothing that anyone in the administration has said that indicates they're going to have a universal registry. >> and obama care wasn't a tax until they needed it to be a tax, was it? >> it was the supreme court that said that. >> let's get to our panel now. mark glaze is the director of mayors against illegal guns which is responsible for that super bowl ad. and michael eric dyson is a professo

issue fully. >> wayne lapierre accused president obama of using newtown as basically political leverage. do you agree with his belief here in. >> i do get disappointed when the president marches out children and uses children in this situation. i don't want to scare -- look, i have six grandchildren. i'm not going to scare my grandchildren by talking about this topic. i don't think that this is the right thing to do. those children are not at an age where they can understand the full -- >> how is the president scaring people by having children and using children, as you're saying, that are already involved in this very tragedy that we're talking about? >> the president did a press conference. he did a meeting with children right after this incident, which really very much turned me off. i would not have wanted my grandchildren to be in that room where we were talking about guns. you know, maybe because i'm 62 years old and i have grandchildren, i feel like i want to talk to the grandchildren about issues that they can understand, about safety. and there are some safety measures

nra, wayne lapierre, delivered his own response to the president's call for action on guns. >> it's not about keepinging kids safe at school. that wasn't even mentioned in the president's speech. they only care about their decades long, decades old gun control agenda. the president has taken the art of public deception and manipulation to a whole new level. >> and now to the president's pick for defense secretary, chuck hagel is on hold for at least now. republicans successfully halted his nomination until after the recess. >> it's just unfortunate that this kind of politics intruds at a time when i'm when i need a secretary of defense to make sure that the americans are getting the strategy that they deserve. >> john mccain offered this in to the pushback that the nominee is getting from within the gop ranks itself. >> there's a lot of ill will towards senator hagel because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly which anti-his own party and people. >> we don't have a secretary of defense in place and we're not going to because of a seven year old political

anyway. nobody knows who those guys are. but everybody knows who wayne lapierre is. he wants you to hate him. that's his job. and i think that wayne lapierre and the nra are not even in this to win elections, which is why they stay in business despite a winning record of 1%. wayne lapierre exist to make you think of anything other than the makers of guns when you feel outraged by gun violence. that's their job, to deflect the anger so the flames never reach the people who are really monetarily invested in there being no gun reform in this country that is how the game has been played. but we're now seeing signs that is not how this game going to be played anymore. the nra is a scarlet letter in some elections now. they are becoming less of a distraction from the real politics of the gun industry and what it might take to change things in this country. they keep saying that this is one area of policy where things can't change. but this is changing. i'm a conservative investor. but that doesn't mean i don't want to make money. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments. i al

. wayne lapierre, appearing with chris wallace over the weekend, talking about what he believes is the president's stance that he's not being public about. take a listen. >> they leafletted the country with flyers like this, obama's not going to take your gun, obama will protect gun rights, and now he's trying to take away all three. i mean, what they'll do is they'll turn this universal check on the law-abiding into a universal registry of law-abiding people and law-abiding people don't want that. >> sir, it seems to be that wayne lapierre has come out against any type of reform in any general direction that's been discussed so far. when it comes to the second amendment and as someone who has suffered at the hands of an accidental gunshot, what are your feelings about how the left can be better communicating the fact that while support of the second amendment is universal, there needs to be some control of the guns in this country when it comes to the current regulation. >> well, it's interesting because i also saw a clip of mr. wayne lapierre over the weekend where he was speakin

afternoon. it's thursday, february the 14th. and wayne lapierre has a valentine's card for the american people. grab a gun because the end is near. isn't that romantic? >> wayne lapierre is expanding his argument now. >> background checks will never be universal because criminals will never submit to them. >> after hurricane sandy, we saw the hellish world. >> come out to play. >> looters ran wild in south brooklyn. really? >> and if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark or you might not get home at all. >> this is so laced with racial overtones. the republican party, if they were smart, their leaders today with condemn it, but they're not smart. >> the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. ♪ >>> a busy valentine's day, indeed, with the president traveling to georgia just as senate republicans back in washington threatened to derail and deny his nomination of chuck hagel. we're looking live at the senate where moments from now they're going to take a vote that's likely to delay the confirmation of a much-needed

people on the nra's enemy list joins me on wayne lapierre's response to the state of the union address. >>> and in the "rewrite" republicans rewrite their philosophy on taxes. y roadside assistance is there 24/7. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh... yeah, can you find a take where it's a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah? yeah i got it right here. someone help me!!! i have a flat tire!!! well it's good... good for me. what do you think? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. is moving backward. [ engine turns over, tires squeal ] and you'll find advanced safety technology like an available heads-up display on the 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin.

congress on gun control, nra ceo wayne lapierre is expected to give his decision on the state of the union tonight. hold on to your hats, it's going to be a doozy. he writes hurricanes, tornadoes, riots, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are perils we are sure to face, not just maybe, it's not paranoia to buy a gun, it's survival. >> the republican party, if they were smart, their leaders today would condemn it, but they're not smart, they're scared. they're going to get hammered in future elections if they allow this clown to continue to lead them around by their nose. >> joining me now to talk more is wyoming's republican senator john barrasso also a member of the gop leadership team and chair of the republican policy center. we showed there harry reid talking this morning from the floor. i want to show this what harry reid is describing what's going on in our nation's capital. >> this isn't high school. getting ready for a football game. or some play being produced in high school. we're trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country. >> you said you would be

wayne lapierre to get a real job? how could a party built other the decades on the people who left the democrats abandon those issues that attracted the rule south and the west people and the miners and the ranchers and the gun owners. and the people furious about immigration. how do you ban those people and keep a party? tonight an expert, a passionate believer that politics can get better. my colleague joe scarborough. here's the question. how do you keep this huge tent the republican party has built in the last 30 or 40 years with people from the south, the west, the miners, the ranchers, the religious right, all those people that have decided the republican party is their natural home and yet you have people in the fringe costing you your image. >> well, you've got to stand up to people on the fringe. you know, when parties go extreme they get roundly defeated. it happened to democrats in 1984. it happened to the republican neocons on 2006. it happened in the off-year elections back in 2010. americans thought democrats went too far to the left, and they punished them and to alm

, mike bloomberg's group, that showed that group of wayne lapierre of the nra support of background checks in 1999. because the debate was so much further to the left back then, the nra was under pressure just seemed to be moderate and support some forms of gun control, such as background checks. there's a report from that time that wayne lapierre threatened to quit the nra if they didn't support some kind of control such as background checks. that's helped them win more elections in red states and people like harry reid get elected in nevada, a pretty pro-gun state. the question is, is that going to be productive for people who want to see gun control get passed? will this mean an increased prag ma tichl, mean that the issue has a better chance of getting through? >> and what's the answer to that question? do we know? >> i don't have a crystal ball, but if you talk to people who support gun control, they have been beaten down for a long time, losing consistently for 20 years will do that to you. and they feel better than they ever have. there is, as you know, a lot of momentum behi

this. for us. >> opponents of a background check rely on fearmongering. nra chief wayne lapierre spread ridiculous lies on fox news sunday. >> what they'll do is they'll turn this universal check on the law abiding into a universal registry of law-abiding people. and law-abiding people don't want that. >> well, law-abiding people want a universal background check system. more than nine in ten gun households want one. more than eight in ten nra member says the same thing. the president is quick to point out the popularity of the law. >> we know for example from polling that universal background checks are universally supported just about. by gun others. the overwhelming majority of gunowners think that's a good idea. so if we have lobbyists in washington claiming to speak for gun owners saying something different we need to go to the source and reach out to people directly. we can't allow those filters to get in the way of common sense. >> the gun lobby is worried. the president is making headway on this issue, which is why his opponents insist on distracting the country with things like

be another new problem for some moderate voter, wayne lapierre, he runs the nra. i want to read you a snippet of this op-ed piece. "after hurricane sandy we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia, looters ran wild in south brooklyn." didn't happen. "there was food, water, electricities, hurricanes, tornadoes, riots, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are perils we are sure to face. not just maybes. it's not paranoia to buy a gun, it's survival, responsible behavior and it's time we encourage law-abiding americans to do just that." many including joe scarborough said the op-ed was laced with "racial overtones" among other things. what is wayne lapierre doing for the republican party? >> wayne lapierre is representing his organization. whether he's trying to fold into his organization. >> long identified with the gop. >> there's a difference between the nra and the rnc. he's doing what he's paid to do and representing it. the nice thing the democrats are doing are lopping the two groups together so i do understand that he's long supported a lot of

president obama beat the nra? wayne lapierre's apocalyptic rantings about a world without guns are easy to lampoon, but he may have the support and the votes to block any kind of real gun legislation and them's the facts. >>> also, illinois has moved a step closer to becoming the next state to approve gay marriage. conservatives are chronically worried right now that they're losing the culture war, at least on that front. for once i think they're right. >>> and watergate. water hyphen gate. marco rubio's water bottle moment may be the image that haunts him for a long time. a look back at some of the other moments that, fairly or not, have come to define some politicians forever. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. t impresses . a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ our first full team gathering! i wanted to call on a few people. ashley, ashley marshall...

palin, rand paul, allen west, and wayne lapierre. now i'm sure we'll have one that will have you and dana definitely wanting to go hear the great orator, rick perry is going to speak. what do you think, angela? >> whoo! just kidding. first and foremost, we have to talk about what is going on with the gop. the gop has, i think, a three-fold problem. it's the message. it's the messengers and the audienced audience is the person people who don't care to hear what they're talking about, whether it's on cpac or fox or some other media outlet, the message isn't resonating in part because when you look at the changing dem graphics of this country, they have got to at some point start talking about social issues because folks vote wholistically. what is the candidate talking about that makes sense to me? how does it impact me? and then at some point we have to address the humanity of politics, compassion and concern for your neighbor. all of which for some reason the republican party is so distant from, it just doesn't make any sense. >> but, you know, i think that -- cpac is the big conserv

, wayne lapierre is extreme on guns and paul krugman is extreme on debt. they sort of occupy their own alternative universeses and the question is whether the republicans are going to have the guts to stand up to lapierre and whether democrats will be strong enough to walk away from krugman. but we'll see what happens. if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's time for "morning joe". >> tell us. >> it's time for "morning joe," but now it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. have a great day. happy valentine's day! >>> the posturing around chuck hagel's nomination for a defense secretary, well, it's getting murkier by the minute. are republicans gearing up to deny an up or down vote for the pentagon kick before the weekend? >>> president obama's road show policy push hits atlanta today and we'll take a deep dive into the options and odds of the president having to fall back on executive actions, because his policies won't go anywhere in congress. >>> and the republican ruckus over karl rove's conservative counter-strategy is reaching a bit of a fever pitch. but is t

face. alan rich, rick santorum. don't forget wayne lapierre, the kid on the block. and even a curtain call for mitt romney. it doesn't look like the far right's grip on the gop is fading after all. john is a senior adviser to the santorum presidential committee, at least for the last one and roger simon is a pro here at political comments for politico. john, why the same old song, the same old faces? >> well, you know, everybody is talking about this rebranding and they almost this is like money ball where we're supposed to get rid of all our players and bring new players in. the change in marketing terms is not rebranding, it's repositioning. what the republicans did wrong, it wasn't except for a few cases bad messengers, we didn't resonate with the hard-working people around this country. we fight too much for taxpayers for the wealthy, we look like we fight for loopholes for big corporations and we've lost our way fighting for average hard-working blue collar americans. and that's where we have to change. not the players per se. although there are new players like a tim scott from

, connecticut, which left 26 people dead, nra ceo wayne lapierre has pushed the narrative more guns means a safer america. gun rights activists have embraced this claim, with some going even further than that and capitalizing on the national discussion. a youth hockey league in fargo, north dakota, with players as young as 4 years old plans to give away 200 firearms in a raffle. it's a great fundraiser for them. the new hampshire association of chiefs of police is raffling off 31 firearms, including semiautomatic weapons. and the latest all around pizzas and deli in virginia beach, virginia, is offering 15% discount if you carry openly to the store or show them a concealed weapons permit. here is a happy customer posing with her son's semiautomatic rifle. it's fun for the whole family, isn't it, young and old. see, in virginia it's legal to carry a gun into banks, hospitals, stores, movie theaters, restaurants, and open carry is even allowed in bars. sounds like a great idea. let's see, guns and alcohol, mix them together, nothing is going to happen. here is what more guns have led to in